SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE FOR RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS

RELIGION AND POLICIES REGARDING

RELIGION IN VIETNAM

HÀ NỘI - 2006

INTRODUCTION

Vietnam is a multi-ethnic and multi-religion nation that treasures a history of several thousand years and a rich cultural heritage. Like many other countries in the world, Vietnam has many ethnic groups. Each of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam has beliefs and religions that are embedded in that group’s particular economics, culture, and social life.

To ensure the right to freedom of belief and religion for citizens, the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1946) and the current Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have consistently affirmed the right to “freedom of belief and religion” as a fundamental right of human beings. In Vietnam, there is no discrimination based on belief or religion; followers of different religions live harmoniously in the national community of Vietnam.

The documents of the 10^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam set forth: “Compatriots of different religions constitute an all-important component of the country’s larger national unity. The Party will consistently implement its policy of respecting and guaranteeing the citizens’ right to enjoy freedom of belief, to follow or not to follow a religion, and to engage in normal religious practices as stipulated by the law". These documents also reaffirm the need to prevent superstitious activities and abuses of belief and religion that harm the country's common interests and encroach upon the citizens’ right to religious freedom.

The State of Vietnam is committed to respecting and safeguarding the citizens’ effective right to freedom of belief and religion, and at the same time constantly improves the legal system related to belief and religion to meet the citizens’ basic spiritual and religious needs while simultaneously promoting the strength and great unity of the entire nation and building the country so that Vietnam becomes increasingly more developed, democratic, equitable, and cultured.

However, both inside and outside of the country, because of inadequate information and certain prejudices, there are those who do not yet have a complete and accurate understanding of the situation of religion and the State’s policies on religion in Vietnam. The Government Committee for Religious Affairs is pleased to introduce this book, "Religion and Policies Regarding Religion in Vietnam", in order to help readers, researchers, and those interested inside and outside of the country so that they have a clearer understanding about the situation of religion in Vietnam and about the Vietnamese State’s policies on religion.

CHAPTER 1

Beliefs and religions in vIeTnam

1. Overview of Beliefs and Religions in Vietnam

Vietnam, which is situated in Southeast Asia, has a rich cultural heritage and a history of several thousand years building and defending the nation. There are 54 ethnic groups living in Vietnam. These groups have different traditional cultures, and religions and beliefs that are imbued with their respective ethnic characteristics. Each group has its own culture within Vietnam’s community of ethnic groups, yet all these ethnic groups share a common practice of polytheistic worship.

Buddhism arrived in Vietnam by sea routes from India and land routes from China almost two thousand years ago, the Vietnamese subconsciously combined Buddhism with their own indigenous religions and beliefs to create Man Nương Mother Buddha and pagodas honoring the Four Goddesses (the Goddesses of Clouds, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning). The worship of the Four Goddesses became an indigenous religion, with Buddhism integrated into elements of the Vietnamese people’s early beliefs, i.e., the worship of goddesses of agriculture and reverence for natural phenomena, such as clouds, rain, thunder, and lightning.

Since the tenth century, polytheism and the smooth combination of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism came into a religion that came to be called the “three religions from the same source” or “three religions deserving the same honor”. This three-religion construct became a spiritual system bearing the deep Vietnamese national imprint.

In the fifteenth century, the Lê Dynasty ascended to the throne and replaced Buddhism with Confucianism as the moral mainstay of society. Thus, the village communal house replaced the pagoda as the center of village life. In every village in every area, the people chose for themselves a tutelary saint to honor. This tutelary God is not necessarily a person of high position, great merits, or with impressive stature but, rather, is a person who is highly respected by the people and may bless the villagers and give them protection. The worship of tutelary Gods was and is an eclectic fusion between the new beliefs and the Vietnamese people’s long-standing deep-seated tradition of worshipping ancestors.

Catholicism entered Vietnam in the sixteenth century, introducing Vietnamese to a monotheistic religion. For several centuries, the Vietnamese Catholic followers with their belief in a Christian God had to renounce their old beliefs and practices, including worship of their own ancestors. Only in the beginning of the 1970s did the tradition of ancestor worship return to Vietnamese Catholics.

Thus, the structural system of religions and beliefs of the Vietnamese people takes its source from different religions and beliefs. These include: Indigenous beliefs and polytheism; exogenous religions (i.e., religions that arose in other countries and subsequently were introduced into Vietnam, such as Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, etc.); native religions (i.e., religions arising in Vietnam, such as Cao đài, Hòa Hảo Buddhism, Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa, etc.); and new religious phenomena. Exogenous religions entering Vietnam have adapted to the cultural and religious complexions of the Vietnamese people. As a result, they have transformed from their original form; in other words, once these exogenous religions entered Vietnam, they were assimilated by Vietnamese culture.

Whether following exogenous or native religions, Vietnamese believers in general are influenced by polytheism, by a spirit of religious tolerance and of nationalism. Patriotism is a valued tradition of religious followers as well as of the vast majority of religious leaders in Vietnam. More than anyone else, Vietnamese religious believers understand that religious freedom can exist only when the Homeland is independent.

As residents of a multi-religion country, Vietnamese religious followers as the whole are devoted to the nation while at the same time taking active part in social and cultural life, thus contributing to Vietnam’s rich, diverse, and distinctive culture. Vietnam is of tolerance and moderation country in terms of inter-religious relations and has a tradition of religious unity and of national unity in the defence and building up of the nation. The peaceful co-existence and tolerance among different religions together with the compassionate and humane nature of the Vietnamese people and their society create a lively picture of beliefs and religions living together in Vietnam: singular yet various, intermingling yet without discord. In particular, in Vietnam today, the harmony between religions and the State is quite apparent. Thus, conflicts between religions have not occurred in Vietnam. Overall national unity, including unity among religions, is the country’s source of strength and the decisive factor that ensured victory in the cause of defending and building the Homeland.